ILGWU Legal Department Records, 1958-1980
Collection Number: 5780/107

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
ILGWU Legal Department Records, 1958-1980
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5780/107
Abstract:
The collection contains files relating to the ILGWU's organizing and legal activities surrounding the Kellwood Company at several of its divisions throughout the southern United States through court documents, correspondence, clippings, organizing leaflets, and accounts and interviews of the strike.
Creator:
Siems, Frederick Rolle
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). Education Dept.
Quanitities:
5 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English

Biographical / Historical

The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States. It was one of the first U.S. Unions to have a membership consisting of mostly females, and it played a key role in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union is generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG". The ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, and political influence to become one of the most powerful forces in American organized labor by mid-century. Representing workers in the women's garment industry, the ILGWU worked to improve working and living conditions of its members through collective bargaining agreements, training programs, health care facilities, cooperative housing, educational opportunities, and other efforts. The ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1995 to form the Union of Needle trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create a new union known as UNITE HERE. The two unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented only 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.

Biographical / Historical

From very early on in its existence, the ILGWU had need for legal counsel, and this was handled in the union's main offices in cooperation with hired attorneys. As the union grew and especially after the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, the union found cause to establish a Legal Department. The department provided general legal counsel to the union and its affiliates, worked to develop collective bargaining agreement terms, and represented the ILGWU in litigation and arbitration. After the formation of the Master Agreements Department in 1965, the responsibilities for developing CBA terms shifted to the new department.

The Legal Department records do not comprehensively document the ILGWU legal activities, instead focusing on specific cases or series of cases.
Two ILGWU cases are documented in the Legal Department records. The first case involved the Kellwood Corporation, and the second involved the Donnelly Garment Company. The records relating to the Kellwood case (5780/107, 5780/107 AV, 5780/107 P) include court documents, correspondence and memoranda, surveys of strikers, organizing leaflets and newsletters (from both the union and the company), Steve Honeyman's draft accounts of the strike, audio and transcripts of Honeyman's interviews with ILGWU members and staff, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other printed material. The Donnelly Garment Company's case against the ILGWU is documented primarily through transcripts of the case, legal briefs, and related court documents.
Records on series of cases are the most general and extensive of the Legal Department records. They include records on ILGWU cases in the U.S. courts (5780/081), records documenting cases before the National War Labor Board (5780/085), and records relating to a wide variety contract negotiations, arbitration proceedings, and courts cases (5780/063).
Researchers may find complementary material in the other parts of the ILGWU records, such as the papers of the international leadership, especially the papers of ILGWU presidents (Series IV); the records of local unions in instances where these affiliates were involved in litigation or arbitration (Series III); and the collective bargaining agreements (Series VI). Related collections at the Kheel Center include decisions of the Coat and Suit Industry's Impartial Chairman (6036/015) and decisions of the Dress Industry's Impartial Chairman (6036/017).
In the Legal Department records (5780/107), the collection contains files relating to the ILGWU's organizing and legal activities surrounding the Kellwood Company at several of its divisions throughout the southern United States (Little Rock, Arkansas; Lonoke, Arkansas; Brownsville, Kentucky; and Greenfield, Tennessee). In addition to court documents and correspondence and memoranda relating to the ILGWU's legal cases, these records contain documentation of the Kellwood strike, including surveys of strikers, organizing leaflets and newsletters (from both the union and the company), and newspaper clippings on the strike. Also includes Steve Honeyman's draft accounts of the strike, transcripts of his interviews with ILGWU members and staff who participated in the strike, as well as working materials from the negotiations between the ILGWU and Kellwood. Organizing leaflets from other shops in Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas are also included.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
Conditions Governing Use

This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Preferred Citation

ILGWU Legal Department Records #5780/107. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Materials

Related Collections: 5780: ILGWU records 5780/107 AV: ILGWU Legal Department Audio-Visual Materials 5780/107 P: ILGWU Legal Department Photographs 5780/081: ILGWU Legal Department Records 5780/063: ILGWU Legal Department Records 5780/162: ILGWU Legal Department Donnelly Garment Company v. ILGWU Records

SUBJECTS

Names:
Siems, Frederick Rolle, 1915-
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Legal Dept.
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry--United States
Clothing workers--Labor unions--United States.
Clothing workers--United States.
Industrial relations--United States.
Labor laws and legislation--United States.

CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Box 1 Folder 1
Siems, Frederick
1967-1980
Box 1 Folder 2
Kellwood
1978-1980
Box 1 Folder 3
Finance Department of ILGWU
Box 1 Folder 4
Chambers, Eva
1976
Box 1 Folder 5
Surek Casz
1976-1979
Box 1 Folder 6
Kellwood Union Contract [folder 1 of 2]
1971
Box 1 Folder 7
Kellwood Union Contract [folder 2 of 2]
1971
Box 1 Folder 8
Kellwood: Grievance Case Arbitration [folder 1 of 2]
1972-1973
Box 1 Folder 9
Kellwood: Grievance Case Arbitration [folder 2 of 2]
1972-1973
Box 1 Folder 10
Kellwood: Grievance Hearing
1974
Box 1 Folder 11
Kellwood: Grievances and Settlement [folder 1 of 2]
1973-1976
Box 1 Folder 12
Kellwood: Grievances and Settlement [folder 2 of 2]
1973-1976
Box 1 Folder 13
Kellwood: Idabel, Oklahoma
1968-1973
Box 1 Folder 14
Kellwood Corporation
1961-1973
Box 1 Folder 15
Kellwood: Compliance Proceedings [folder 1 of 3]
1971
Box 1 Folder 16
Kellwood: Compliance Proceedings [folder 2 of 3]
1971
Box 1 Folder 17
Kellwood: Compliance Proceedings [folder 3 of 3]
1971
Box 1 Folder 18
Newspaper Clippings
1968-1974
Box 2 Folder 1
Retirement and Medical Plans
1966-1971
Box 2 Folder 2
Kellwood: Little Rock and Tennessee
1970-1972
Box 2 Folder 3
Kellwood: Little Rock
1967-1972
Box 2 Folder 4
Kellwood: Distribution and Discharges
1972
Box 2 Folder 5
Chambers, Eva: Organizer
1973
Box 2 Folder 6
Honeyman, Steve
1966-1977
Box 2 Folder 7
Interviews
1971-1974
Box 2 Folder 8
ILGWU Elections
1965-1966
Box 2 Folder 9
Leaflets: Lonoke, Arkansas
1971-1972
Box 2 Folder 10
Leaflets: Byrd
1970
Box 2 Folder 11
State v. Chambers, Eva
1967
Box 2 Folder 12
State v. Ferguson, Lemmie
1967
Box 2 Folder 13
Kellwood Company
1978
Box 2 Folder 14
Survey of Kellwood Strikers
1976
Box 2 Folder 15
Leaflets
1971-1978
Box 2 Folder 16
Leaflets: Bogart
1969-1970
Box 2 Folder 17
Leaflets: Spotlight
1966-1970
Box 2 Folder 18
Leaflets: Munsingwear
1967-1968
Box 2 Folder 19
Leaflets: Honey Togs
1967-1968
Box 2 Folder 20
Leaflets: Genesco
1968
Box 2 Folder 21
Leaflets: Nelly Don
1968
Box 2 Folder 22
Leaflets: Manila
1966
Box 2 Folder 23
Employer Leaflets
1965
Box 2 Folder 24
Little Rock, Arkansas
1958-1960
Box 2 Folder 25
Flashbacks: Book One
Box 2 Folder 26
Genrty, Doris: Supervisor
1974
Box 2 Folder 27
Plan B Project
1977
Box 2 Folder 28
ILGWU vs. Ottenheimer
1976
Scope and Contents
July 22, 1976
Box 2 Folder 29
Little Rock: Protest Parade [folder 1 of 2]
1967
Box 2 Folder 30
Little Rock: Protest Parade [folder 2 of 2]
1967
Box 2 Folder 31
Herman Marcus, Incorporated
1976
Box 2 Folder 32
Little Rock: Union Leaflets [folder 1 of 2]
1965-1966
Box 3 Folder 1
Little Rock: Union Leaflets [folder 2 of 2]
1965-1966
Box 3 Folder 2
Ottenheimer Company Leaflets
1966
Box 3 Folder 3
ILGWU: Court Cases, Leaflets, Newspaper Clippings
1967
Box 3 Folder 4
Ottenheimer Company Leaflets
1965-1966
Box 3 Folder 5
Little Rock: Leaflets
1965-1971
Box 3 Folder 6
Union Leaflets and Newsletters
1965-1967
Box 3 Folder 7
Striking and Decisions
1966-1973
Box 3 Folder 8
Kellwood Strikers: Special Medical Relief
1972-1973
Box 3 Folder 9
Strikers Health and Insurance Survey
Box 3 Folder 10
Greenfield Manufacturing Company [folder 1 of 2]
1971
Box 3 Folder 11
Greenfield Manufacturing Company [folder 2 of 2]
1971
Box 3 Folder 12
Lonoke
1966-1972
Box 3 Folder 13
Brownsville
1972-1973
Box 3 Folder 14
Alamo [folder 1 of 2]
1967-1969
Box 3 Folder 15
Alamo [folder 2 of 2]
1967-1969
Box 4 Folder 1
Negotiating Exhibits
1966
Box 4 Folder 2
Insurance and Police
1966-1967
Box 4 Folder 3
Martin et al. v. Rockefeller, et al.
1967-1968
Box 4 Folder 4
Geraldine Booth, v. Frederick Siems
1968-1970
Box 4 Folder 5
State v. Hubman, Lillian
1967
Box 4 Folder 6
State v. Baily, Paul (Scab)
1967
Box 4 Folder 7
State v. Hobbs, Darnell
1967
Box 4 Folder 8
State v. Wilson, David
1967
Box 4 Folder 9
State v. Jackson, Jerry
1967
Box 4 Folder 10
Negotiations [folder 1 of 2]
1966-1967
Box 4 Folder 11
Negotiations [folder 2 of 2]
1966-1967
Box 4 Folder 12
Kellwood Company, Ottenheimer Division and ILGWU, AFL-CIO
1966-1967
Box 4 Folder 13
Kellwood: Respondent's Brief
1966
Box 4 Folder 14
Interviews: Youngdahl and Martin, Eldora
Box 4 Folder 15
Miscellaneous
1966-1967
Box 4 Folder 16
Kellwood: Miscellaneous
1966-1976
Box 4 Folder 17
ILGWU v. Kellwood: Little NLRB cases
1959-1970
Scope and Contents
Little Rock, Arkansas
Box 4 Folder 18
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer: Negotiations
1965-1967
Box 4 Folder 19
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer [folder 1 of 2]
1965-1966
Box 4 Folder 20
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer [folder 2 of 2]
1965-1966
Box 5 Folder 1
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer: Trial [folder 1 of 3]
1965-1966
Box 5 Folder 2
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer: Trial [folder 2 of 3]
1965-1966
Box 5 Folder 3
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer: Trial [folder 3 of 3]
1965-1966
Box 5 Folder 4
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer
1966-1967
Box 5 Folder 5
Ottenheimer: Refusal to Bargain Charges
1966-1968
Box 5 Folder 6
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer: Strike and Negotiations [folder 1 of 3]
1966-1967
Box 5 Folder 7
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer: Strike and Negotiations [folder 2 of 3]
1967-1968
Box 5 Folder 8
ILGWU v. Ottenheimer: Strike and Negotiations [folder 3 of 3]
1966-1967
Box 5 Folder 9
Ottenheimer Strike Injunction [folder 1 of 2]
1966-1967
Box 5 Folder 10
Ottenheimer Strike Injunction [folder 2 of 2]
1966-1967
Box 5 Folder 11
Sears Roebuck and Company v. Lambert
1966
Box 5 Folder 12
Daley, Eloise F. v. Ottenheimer
1966
Box 5 Folder 13
Past Strike Documents
1967-1968
Box 5 Folder 14
ILGWU Court Briefs
1965-1978
Box 5 Folder 15
Jackson, Jerry
Box 5 Folder 16
Lavey, Jack
Box 5 Folder 17
Clay, Glenn
Box 5 Folder 18
Siems, Frederick
Box 5 Folder 19
Lupo, Alice
Box 5 Folder 20
Martin, Art
Box 5 Folder 21
Glenn, Ida
Box 5 Folder 22
Youngdahl, James
Box 5 Folder 23
Perlstein, Jerry
Box 5 Folder 24
Webster, Lew
Box 5 Folder 25
Wilson, Jean
Box 5 Folder 26
Jefferson, Bobby
1976
Box 5 Folder 27
Burlison, Nellie
Box 5 Folder 28
Cato, B.C.
1976
Box 5 Folder 29
Roberts, Florence
Box 5 Folder 30
Martin, Eldora
1976